The April 20,2009 issue of the magazine Sports Illustrated reported that the Oklahoma City Thunder, a professional basketball team, had a win-loss record for the 2008-2009 season that was actually worse for home games that were sold out (3 wins and 15 losses) than for home games that were not sold out (12 wins 11 losses).
Based on these data, is it reasonable to conclude that a sell-out crowd is the cause of the team's poor performance at sold-out home games? Can you think of another explaination for why the win-loss record might be worse for sold out games than for games that are not sold out?
Did random selection or random assignment play any role in the collection of these data?
+2440 Resolution by analysis.
Based on these data, is it reasonable to conclude that a sell-out crowd is the cause of the team's poor performance at sold-out home games?
No. It‘s not reasonable to make this conclusion. This data indicates a correlation not causation.
Can you think of another explaination(sic)
A more likely cause for the Thunder’s poorer performance for sold-out home games is the opposing teams are notably superior in game-playing skills. Teams with superior skills tend to draw larger numbers of spectators, and are more likely to have sell-out crowds.
Did random selection or random assignment play any role in the collection of these data?
No. The data is based on the (total) population, not a sample population. There is no randomness in selection or assignment.
GA
